Mamaw (my grandmother) died last Saturday after a short, terminal illness diagnosed just a few weeks ago. Her viewing was yesterday, and she was buried this afternoon. She was 91 years old. Now, many well-meaning people will say, "She had a good long life," but what they don't understand is despite physical problems (eyesight going and having to use a walker to help keep from falling), she was sharp as a tack until the end.

Here's the obituary I prepared as she was dying, originally as the "family genealogist/historian", then  added to from notes she had given my father, and rearranged to include great-grandkids by request from one of my uncles:

(Of course, this was not what appeared in most of the papers to which it was sent. From my understanding, it would have taken three full-page columns, and at least would have charged over $2000 for it. After it was "cut down,", no grandkids or great-grandchildren were listed, they were counted, instead, and a couple of what the family felt were very important paragraphs were cut. That's why I've included the full-version, here.]

Memories of Mamaw

("Papaw", in most of the below, is my grandfather, Mamaw's first husband and love, Verne Caroll "Carp" Sanders.)

You should know, I have to call her Mamaw (a name I think I gave her when I was very young). Apparently, there was a time when I was a toddler and trying to get her attention. She was talking to someone, and I kept saying, "Mamaw... Mamaw... Mamaw...", and still, she kept talking to whomever. Finally, I apparently yelled, "Alwice!". Oh... THAT got her attention. She stopped, looked at me sternly, and said, "I'm MAMAW... Don't call me Alice."

I vaguely remember living in Sheridan when I was young (I would have been 2-4 or so). We lived just a little more than 1/2-block away from Mamaw. I do remember walking from our house to hers, through the alley running between a church and our house. I don't know why it's such a strong memory, except that it WAS going to Mamaw and Papaw's. (While many phrases such as these are written with the masculine first, it was always said and written "Mamaw and Papaw's", never the other way around. This may be remembered wrongly, since Papaw died when I was six years old, and she lived there alone for the next few years.)

Some of the memories I list may be later memories than I profess, but I've tried to put them in chronological order.

Mamaw's House

When I think of Mamaw, I have to think of the house. Mamaw lived in one house for the majority of her life - 70 years or so. It still sits on the corner of West Second and State Road 38 in Sheridan, and was sold out of the family for the first time since the 1930s in 2005.

I learned, later, that Papaw had remodeled it for them. There were a few amazing things I remember about that house, that I don't remember in any others.

First, Mamaw's front porch. This was a concrete porch with wooden railings, wrapping around two sides of the house. (You can see it in the picture.) Back before video games, computers and color TVs, it was a playground for us kids unless it was too cold. She had toys, like a large fire-truck, with a key you wound to make a siren - I believe the lights flashed, too. Of course, we took our toys and went out on the porch to play. When we got tired of the toys, some of us "walked the rails" - We climbed up on them, and holding onto the trim molding above the rail, walked from the front break for the entrance to the back and back to the front. Our hands would turn black from the years of dust and dirt up there, but we didn't care. (Of course, Mamaw made us wash our hands before we did anything else in the house!)

And the porch swing... You can't talk about the front porch without mentioning the porch swing. Mamaw used to sit on it, swing, and wave to almost everyone who drove around that corner. And it seems most of Sheridan did, at some point during the day. People walking on the sidewalk, and some of those who were driving, would stop and chat with her for a while. Seems like she knew everyone in Sheridan and everyone in Sheridan knew her. (We kids would try to swing it as far as we could... I think we were trying to hit the wall of the house. Thank God we never did... There's a huge window there!)

The front "break", above, was where the front steps from the sidewalk came up to the house. Straight ahead and to the left was the front door. This was also one of the unchanging things of the house. It had a wooden screen door with a deadbolt lock on it (no doorknob... just a handle to pull it open. A long spring pulled it shut, and we were admonished, again and again, not to let the screen door slam shut!

The doorbell was unique, too. I don't recall EVER seeing one like it, since. It was a round plate with a decorative "backward-S" shape. Instead of pushing it to ring the bell, you turned it, and it sprang back to the vertical position. The "ding-dong" was strange, too, in that instead of ringing hanging tone-pipes, it must have either hammered or plucked bars set inside it. This was on the doorframe, and, apparently, THROUGH the doorframe (at least as I remember it). A box containing the tone-bars was on the inside. Though not particularly loud, it was plenty loud enough to be heard throughout the lower part of the house. A good, solid, wooden door, the top 1/2 a large old glazed window. I remember at least for a time, that window being "old-style", meaning while clear, it had "swirls" in it from the glass-making process.

The porch had a short continuance to the left of the opening from the sidewalk, which ended at the kitchen window. On the long side was the window in the dining room. While not a picture window, it was HUGE, and I believe I remember it being a double-hung. That window also was where the Christmas Tree was set almost every year that I can remember. As you entered the front door, you entered the dining room and, for a long time, if it wasn't between Thanksgiving and New Year's, when the Christmas Tree was there, looked onto the tall, upright player piano across the room (about 10-12' away). I remember playing on it, and making the player-rolls she had play. (This may be a later memory, but it was there.)

A dining table without the extra leaves in it sat in the middle of the room under the chandelier. About 1/2-way down the room, a large square arch, about a foot or two in from the walls and ceiling split the dining room from the living room, meaning the house was open from front to back. At the end of the living room was a huge picture window that looked out on the driveway, garage, a basketball goal, and the house where my mother's parents lived at one time. (That's how Dad and Mom met...)

A door on the right wall once you turned into the dining room was to an efficiency apartment they fixed up for Mamaw's mother and father when they retired from being ministers. I remember it being a large front room with another huge double-hung window onto the front porch (the one we missed with the swing), and an entrance at an angle from the front porch (on Second Street), and the side porch (on SR38). A bathroom under the stairs to the upstairs attic and a kitchen were in the back, as was, I think I remember, a bed and large "chiffarobe" (a free-standing wardrobe). I remember a large wood/coal/oil-burning stove in the main room. After Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Glover died, when we had family-get-togethers and the room wasn't rented, the men would gather in this room (I think I started being allowed to join when I was 10-12), and played games, usually Scrabble. Of course, David (the scientist and a fierce competitor) almost always won, but I seem to recall winning at least once when I was about 14, to his chagrin!

At one time, a large wood/coal/oil-burning stove was on the right-side of that "great room" (main part of the house) at the divider. I remember it being dark brown, but it might have been black. I seem to remember being fascinated by them, watching the flames play through the darkened "oven window". Of course, they were hot, so we weren't allowed to touch them, but they are part of my memories of that house.

She had a backlit picture that I loved, and a lit picture of Jesus in the dining/entrance room. That room held an amazing number of people (aunts, uncles, parents, etc.), around the dining room table expanded with leaves. Everyone was pretty crowded, and the kids ended up at their own table in the living room, an arm's reach from those at that end, but no one but the kids complained. After all, the main part of the meal was MAMAW'S COOKIN'!

Opposite the door to the efficiency and beside the player-piano, was the kitchen doorway. At one time, I think I remember a swinging door there, but in later years, it was removed to leave an archway. Directly across a short space was a door to the back room - the pantry, utility/laundry, and back door to the house. The pantry was a 3-4' wide walk-in closet with shelves on both sides, making it extremely narrow (turn sideways and suck in, even if you're thin). The shelves were floor-to-ceiling, except right inside the door on the left, where a space for a broom, mop and other cleaning items was located. I remember this room as always full. Cans and bottles of food, pots, pans, and in later years, cake pans, older utensils, small appliances, etc. The door jamb into the back room was full of memories. There were marks for at least every year for all of Mamaw's kids and grandkids, showing how tall they'd grown. As great-grandkids started coming, she got a giraffe height-chart she used, instead of the door jamb.

Going around the kitchen to the left, hanging from the entrance door-jamb, was a swinging triangle, where she hung her ironing, and she ironed almost everything! Next, there was a large, shadow-box-type frame with glass shelves, filled with salt- and pepper-shakers of all kinds. I believe I was told that Bob sent many of them from many places, while he was in the Navy. Dad may have sent some from Germany. (Both after the war.)

Next was one of the most unique things in this room - A built-in table. I remember it being about six feet long and about four feet wide. In the middle, about a foot and a half above the table, was ... another table about a foot or so wide. This was where a lot of the food was placed when smaller family get-togethers happened. Condiments and even more food was placed underneath this ... "shelf". Not only could almost everyone reach all the food, but they could see the people on the other side of the table. I thought, and still do think, that this was a VERY neat "kitchen table". Once the kitchen was updated, this table was removed and a smaller table was put against the wall. A shelf with a TV on it (so the cooks could keep track of the shows, races or games on it while cooking), was put on the wall, closer to the ceiling. Mamaw almost always had a scanner of some type tuned to the local police, fire and emergency channels. She kept an eye on everything going on in Sheridan in this way.

Next was the window from the front porch extension. It tended to get hot in that kitchen with all the cooking going on, and this window was open a lot. I remember when we were kids, people coming up to it, and talking to Mamaw through it.

A counter ran the length of the outer wall. In the middle was a double-sink. Glass-front cabinets were on the left side above the counter, and on the right were solid wood doors. Behind the glass was more decorative (read "good) dishes, glasses, and other things. On the right, behind the wood doors, she kept her everyday dishes. Most were Fiesta-ware, though there was plenty of Tupperware and aluminum tumblers. The next cabinet to the right, held cereal and other cooking food-stuffs. The cabinets below the counter... I don't really remember what was there. I think all her baking and cooking pots and pans, small appliances, and things like that. JUST under the counter were big drawers, except for the spot under the sinks. The two largest were filled, almost to overflowing, with silverware (one) and cooking utensils (the other). On either side of the sink, on the front, were metal ... "hoops" is the best word. They kind of matched the "triangle" for hanging clothes. This was where the towels were hung during and after use. Above the sink was a window that I remember being about the width of the sinks. I remember that sometimes when she was doing dishes, and someone she knew walked by, she'd say "Hi" to them. Shelves on either side of the sink on the upper cabinets held cookie jars, and trinkets, some made by her kids and grandkids. (The "clown" cookie jar is one I remember most, but do seem to remember others.) The countertop and backsplash was unique, as was the table-top. I believe I remember both being dark linoleum, or linoleum-like substance (too soft and "waxy" to be Formica. I don't remember a pattern, but do seem to remember a couple of seams that needed repairs (glue) at few times. I believe when the kitchen was renovated, this was replaced with Formica.

At the end of the kitchen, in front of the last lower cabinet, was one of those three-step-stools. (That stool will be important, later in the story!) Above it was a shelf with the phone. I never did take the time to learn the actual numbers of Mamaw's prefix... I remember if from too many times when someone on the phone gave the number as "PLeasant 8-4242"... so any time I needed to call her, I just looked for the "PL", and knew the rest. Next to the stool was the stove, above which was a large window, looking out on the side yard and the Gotshall's house. (When we visited Mamaw, we'd almost always get to play with Iris Jean Gotshall. She was a couple of years older than me, but I found out at the visitation that there were very few kids her age in the neighborhood, so she always played with Mamaw's grandkids when we visited. I'll describe the side yard a little later.)

I don't really remember what came next on that wall, except maybe the trash-can. I know that after the remodeling, the stove was moved to the wall opposite the counter, next to the refrigerator recess. This spot was originally where another wood/coal/oil-burning stove sat. Next to it, between the it and the 'fridge recess, sat a box of toys, for the grandkids to play with (like that fire-truck!) when they came over. Her old 'fridge fit right in that recess. The new one stuck out a little, but had a cold water and ice-dispenser. (Speaking of which, I remember a good portion of the old freezer being taken up with aluminum ice-cube trays, and there always being sugar-sweetened iced-tea in the fridge in a two-gallon pottery or stoneware (Fiesta?) pitcher. Those ice-cube trays were the type with metal inserts. You ran hot water over the bottom (and maybe top), pulled the lever, and out popped the cubes. These cubes were much larger than the cubes you get from the machines and plastic trays... They kept drinks colder longer, and were cold enough to frost those metal tumblers for a LONG time!).

The next wall always had one of those cloth calendars for the current year. In later years, I think the boys got them for her, because I remember some of the grandkids on them. This hung on a large black- and bulletin-board. She had business cards from a lot of places around Sheridan, family pictures and phone numbers all over that board.

The bathroom door was next in the dining room. I don't know that I've ever seen a bathroom arranged like hers. It was "L"-shaped. as you entered, there was a large linen cabinet on the left. All of her towels and sheets and other stuff was there. On the long part of the "L" was the sink. Above it was a glass shelf and standard (old) medicine cabinet with lights on either side. Directly behind you, looking at the sink, was a very large built-in medicine cabinet. That's where she kept her small first-aid stuff and things she didn't use every day. At the end of the short part of the "L" was the bath tub. I seem to remember and old claw tub there, and don't remember a shower until the boys remodeled the kitchen and bathroom. At that time a more current tub and shower were put in. There was also a window above the tub, if I remember right. A curtain hung there gave a little "dressing area" for anyone taking a bath. In the corner on the long part of the "L" was the ... commode. The main thing I remember about it was a magazine rack beside it, and stacks of magazines - most being Reader's Digest, Look, and Guidepost on the tank. I remember reading many of the Guidepost stories while I was otherwise... busy.

Between the commode and the curtain on the short wall was door into a small walk-through closet where many of her clothes hung. The other side of the closet was Mamaw's bedroom. I remember it, but not that well. The main thing I remember was the window onto the side yard, and the window onto the ... "back yard" looking out on the driveway and basketball goal. Oh, yeah. The walk-through closet door opened toward the living room, and the living room door opened toward the walk-through closet door, and they met in the middle. This was kind of a "hidey-hole" and both doors had hanging "triangles" on their tops, where MANY clothes were hung (I don't remember any closet). Here, on the floor was the vacuum and a few other things I don't really remember.

She had a cuckoo clock with corn-cob weighs in the living room. I may have pulled one of them too hard once... I don't remember. The walls were textured as a type of "stucco". In some respects it looked like extra-thick paint was used in spots, in others, plaster or drywall mud "peaks". These walls were never sanded down flat, in my memory. Some of those ridges were wide enough to put a thin book on, but I thought it was neat. (Hey... It was part of Mamaw's house!) On the wall with the cuckoo clock, was another mirror-backed shadow-box with some of the "nicer" salt and pepper shakers and more trinkets. To the left of it was a neat little thing I later called "Stairway to Heaven", which was a crescent moon at an angle, with a small set of stairs attached, and little imps and angels on the steps. When she moved to Lafayette, she gave me that piece, as it was one of the most memorable to me (that and some of the other things I remembered most were already taken!)

Under that big window at the end of the living room, described above, was where the television went. I also remember a small square "hi-fi" record player, where I played David's records (Mr. Tambourine Man, Volare, Young Love, etc.) when we came over. Later, she had a console (stereo on one side, radio on the other, TV in the middle). Still later, when the TV went out, I remember a larger-screen TV that sat on top in the middle (the stereo and radio still worked). Around the rest of the room was big comfortable chairs, where the family would gather after eating to watch TV and talk. She had a couple of very large landscape pictures on the wall opposite the shadow-box frame.

By the TV, in the corner, were three or four steps to a door. Behind that door was a landing where she kept a small dresser. I remember looking through it at one time, but don't remember what was in it. To the right when you went up those short steps, was a long, steep set of steps to the upstairs. I understand that this was actually an attic, which Papaw redid into an open bedroom for the three boys. This was both fascinating to me when I was a kid, and scary at the same time. When Mamaw came up with us, I was fine, but when she went back down and turned out the lights, it was scary, for me. I don't know why... It just was. There were all kinds of things up there... Toys, books, stuff in closets, toys, comics, toys, and a couple of crawl-in closets that were STUFFED. Christmas decorations were stored there, as were her Fiesta dishes (in the later years) and many other things. Around the corner was another bedroom. All of these were, like I said, neat during the day, scary at night to me.

The garage, while attached, had to be entered from the outside... Out the back door, onto a little patio, and open the door to the garage. This place had been Papaw's workshop. For years when we "played" outside, we'd explore this place and play with the air-compressor, blowing stuff all over the place. (David probably showed us how to blow dust around at some point, but he'd probably deny it.) There was a long workbench on the end, little shelves, drawers and tool-holders all over this end, top (above the bench) and bottom (below it), with a couple of "knee holes" for working while sitting on work-stools. Nooks, crannies and cubbyholes were everywhere. Long things (pipes, wires, etc.) hung on the back wall. On the wall by the house, there was another, deeper workbench. My brother and I found chemicals (which we didn't get into, because we KNEW they were dangerous) and other of David's things. One time when we were there, he showed us a little wrought-iron cannon, with a barrel just large enough for a kitchen (the larger type) self-striking match. He also showed us how to make a little rocket with a little foil over the match-head, and heat it up until it lights, shooting the match across the garage. So, sometimes when we were at Mamaw's (when she was watching us for the weekend) we'd put the stick part of the foil-covered match in the cannon, and VIOLA. We could shoot a cannon in the garage! COOL! As far as I know, if we weren't supposed to do that, we never got caught.

THAT HOUSE, will ALWAYS be something I remember when I remember Mamaw. For around 70 years (1930s to 2005) she lived there, and while the piano changed to an organ later; the TV changed a few times; more and more pictures of her grandkids and great-grandkids were put up, requiring more shelves; the kitchen and bathroom were remodeled; the apartment door closed (can't remember if the doorway was sealed with drywall), that house was ALWAYS where we went to see Mamaw. I understood, as did she, when the boys decided she needed to be closer to them, and they needed to sell the house, but I will, as I'm sure many other kids, grandkids and great-grandkids will, miss it almost as much as we miss her.

The side yard (the one between hers and Gotshall's home) was interesting when I was a kid. I remember a time that the laundry only had a washer with a ringer on it, and an ironing board. There were two "T" clothes-line ends, and three clothes lines between. The down pipe on at least one end had a joint in it, and we could get a shoe-hold on it. (I was NEVER good at "shinnying up poles".) I remember at least once making it to the top and sitting there with my legs twined around the down-pipe to keep my balance. I don't remember how I got down, but I must have (and I don't remember getting hurt!) Later, after she got a washer and dryer, she still hung clothes out on those lines for years. At each end of the clothes line, I remember plants and flowers growing around the poles. Mamaw also had a bird-bath, originally between the sidewalk and street, later closer to her back door. I don't remember using the patio at the garage entrance for much, but I do remember it being there. Mamaw had a little garden out there, and a little flower box (cinder-blocks) by the patio. I also remember two oil-drums, one under the kitchen window and one beside the back door. Mark, Iris Jean Gotshall (she was a bit of a tom-boy, especially when Mark and I were there) and I, when we tired of climbing a tree in her back yard onto the neighbor's flat garage roof, climbed onto and sat on them talking about whatever we talked about back then. (I think I mentioned this to Dad, and he only remembers one drum. Thinking about it, this may be true, but I remember it in both positions, if that's the case.) Mamaw always had "Indian Corn" (the hard type) and bird food for the birds.

There used to be a big tree in the side yard. There were also two big trees between the sidewalk and street on Second and one big one on 38th street. And there were a couple of large bushes (Hibiscus?) between the sidewalk and street. The trees apparently caused problems with the sidewalk, and were cut down... First the one in the back yard, then the two on Second Street. The house was sold, and when we drove by on the way to the cemetery, the new owners have cut down the one on 38. And, yes... I do remember climbing into at least one of the trees on Second street. It took a few years for me to grow tall enough to reach the lower branches, but I did manage at least once.

Anecdotal Remembrances of Mamaw

Some of the little things (being afraid of the upstairs, playing on the porch and in the garage, etc.) I've already described. Here I will tell "little stories" about Mamaw and visiting her.

I know Mamaw was very religious, but I don't ever remember her "pushing religion" on us as we grew up. I'm also sure there were many times she "tsk-tsk'd" at something we said or did, but I don't ever remember her mad at any of us. She also was extremely opposed to drinking (alcoholic beverages), but tolerated it, especially in the later years.

When my family moved from Sheridan to Indianapolis around 1960, then to Lafayette around 1962, we drove to Sheridan almost every weekend. I doubt it was as often as I remember, but often Mom and Dad would drop Mark (my brother) and I off at Mamaw's, especially after Papaw died, on a Friday night (I'm sure) and pick us up on Sunday afternoon, it seems every couple of weeks or so, but was probably once every month or two. (Apparently, they wanted to "be alone" for a while!)

Papaw died in 1961. I remember visiting Mamaw sometime around then, and her spending a good portion of that visit sick in bed. I recently found out she'd spent weeks crying. The visit I remember may have been a short time after he died.

Like I said, I was, for some reason, afraid of that upstairs. There were nooks and crannies in every corner, and there were a LOT of corners. There were also a couple of large closets and the dormers and angles may have contributed to my night fears. Mamaw had a night-light solution that helped some, though... It was a country-church scene on a light-bulb (best short description!) The country scene was on a plastic "chimney" around the base, set on a point above the bulb. The top was vaned like a fan, and the heat of the light bulb made the chimney turn. This sat by my bed. Mark was either in a crib or a bed next to mine (after Wilene was born and joined us for the weekends). The idea was that I would stare at it until my eyes closed, and not look at the strangely-angled shadows or down the length of the house to the darkened area, which turned into the other bedroom. It must have helped some, but I still remember the fear. I thought that light-chimney thingy was really neat. Wonder what happened to it? (Hmm... I vaguely remember that it was either David's or Bob's and they took it one time when they were there.)

I remember at least one visit where I was either sick when they dropped me off, or I got sick, I don't remember. I don't remember, for sure, if Mark was there or not, but I do remember sleeping on the couch under the cuckoo clock. That may have been when I pulled the weights and screwed up the clock.

I do remember that Mamaw almost always made us hot cocoa in the morning. I remember her heating the milk, but I also remember times when she used water. My guess is she also used Carnation Instant Milk and either Quik or real cocoa and sugar. Either way, for some reason, Mamaw's hot cocoa was better than any other I've ever had.

One time, when we were there and eating breakfast, a lady came to the door. Somehow, she had run a sewing needle through a thumb or finger, and if I remember what I saw correctly, it was through the middle of nail. Mamaw didn't let us see much, but took the lady to the bathroom and closed the door, after making sure Mark and I would stay in the kitchen until we were done with breakfast. I don't know what else happened, but the lady left, and Mamaw went back to eating breakfast like nothing had happened.

I also remember a time when Mamaw got into an accident. If I remember correctly, she came to a stop-sign where a truck with lumber on it was stopped. She pulled up to the truck, and the wood, which should obviously have had a red flag on it, went through the windshield and bashed her in the forehead. She was ok, but I remember a visit when she had a white bandage on her forehead, and at least one where it was obvious she'd been hit (either stitches, or the mark still there.) VERY lucky that she was slowing for the stop in the first place.

David, the youngest of her three boys, was into science. There were times when we visited that he "made BIG snakes" by taking a beaker of sugar out onto the driveway, and pouring acid on it (I think). It was really cool. He also launched a few model (and bottle-) rockets from the side yard between the garage and the back of the Gotshall's (the closest part, of course). The time I remember, he DID make sure everyone was safe by making us lay behind a little hill back there, while he lit the fuse and ran. It shot up 2000 feet (to our very young eyes - probably only 50-100') and parachuted back to earth in the back yard of the house where my other grandparents had lived (right next door on 38). David also had a lavender-purple brush-painted Cushman scooter. Every family get-together, he had take the Mamaw's grandkids for a ride (he made the major mistake of doing it once!) I do remember longer trips when we were there for a weekend, or it was just our family there. Both Mark and I rode at the same time, with Mark usually in front of David on the seat, and me riding where passengers on motorbikes usually ride. The Cushman had a couple of loops bolted to it right behind where the passenger's legs would sit. We went on enough rides, I remember graduating from holding tight to David to holding onto those loops. When he went to Ohio State, I don't remember any more scooter trips. He still has that scooter in pieces in his garage. I DO remember a couple of times when he let me drive it. (He kept his hands on the bars officer...)

I said I'd mention the stool in the kitchen. Besides being a place to sit and watch Mamaw boil canning supplies, it played a role between David and his brothers. I don't remember the situation, but I believe he hadn't had a haircut for some time. When the family got together, Dad (who'd cut hair in the Army and cut our crew-cuts) and Bob (who had been in the Navy) got David on that stool and cut his hair. I don't think he got a crew (he might have), but I don't believe he liked what or how they had done it. Of course, Mamaw smoothed things out, and afterwards, I'll bet David made sure to get a haircut before each family visit for years.

David also played a role in things we ate and asked for at Mamaw's. Again, I know he denies this, but he's the one that taught us to use sugar on cottage cheese. (He did it, himself, and we tried and liked it, at least for a long number of years.) I also remember that he would come home, grab a full loaf of bread, a stick of butter (no margarine back then), and a table knife, and make butter sandwiches until the loaf and butter were decimated. Another "sweet" I'm sure he made, and we liked was brown-sugar and butter sandwiches. Man, I can almost taste that now. I don't know what it was about them (except the sugar?) but ... (He was an athlete - star of the Butler basketball team when he was there, so I'm sure he burnt it off much faster than we did!)

Speaking of sweets, Mamaw always had cookies in the cookie jars, and candy in or on candy dishes in the living/dining room. When I was growing up, it was Brach's Wintergreen (Mmmmm) and Peppermint (not NEAR as good) Lozenges and Creamed Filberts (aka: Creme or Cream Filberts, Snowballs or Moth Balls - my favorites). Later, there were Brach's Butterscotch, Cinnamon, and Peppermint candies, Candy Corn, nuts, Werther's Originals, and those soft butter/dinner mints. (Think of these and David's doings, and some people wonder why many of our family are as large as we are! LOL)

Like I said, Mark and I were at Mamaw's for a lot of weekends. This included Sunday, when we would go to church with her. I remember Dad singing "How Great Thou Art" a few times, one probably at her wedding to Herm. I'm sure I heard Bob sing a few times, too, but don't really remember them. Mom and Dad always made sure we had "good clothes" to wear to church, and Mamaw made sure we were cleaned up and dressed right. I remember times when she played the organ, but I also remember times when she sat right by us, and kept us quiet by giving us gum, admonishing us if we made too much noise chewing it, and giving us the offering pencils and some paper to write and draw on, especially during the serman, when we weren't getting up to sing and sitting back down so much.

When the family got too large for her house, David, who'd moved to a larger one in West Lafayette, began having Bob and Bud's Birthday Bash (Dad was born November 7th, and Bob November 6th) at his house on the weekend closest to both their birth dates. The date migrated around as it became harder and harder to get the family together, but has always been Mamaw's recipe day. Her Ham Loaf was the best. I believe it started as a mixture of ground ham and pork, but has since added ground smoked sausage to the mix. Everyone always fought over the end pieces, with Dad and Bob usually winning, saying it was THEIR birthday, after all. A few years back, I suggested making large meatballs instead of loaves so EVERYONE could get an "end", and it was a hit. Her Butterhorn crescent rolls are to die for, and she had to make big batches. They do take some time, since they are made with yeast and have to rise for a while. (One time, at David's, Meridith, his daughter, had brought her dogs, because she was there for a week. At least one of them got hold of a tray, and ate many of the rising dough rolls. They had to use Castor Oil or Ipecac (the latter I think) because the dog's stomach was distending as the yeast continued to rise. I'm pretty sure it was Ipecac, because I seem to remember that they had to make the dog... gak, and thought it rhymed.) The other big thing she made for her boys' birthday bash was her Banana Cake. Oh my gosh. It was good. The cake tasted like bananas, the icing, though made with almond extract, didn't really have a strong almond flavor... it just tasted like great icing on banana cake, and, somehow, the red-hots she covered the cake with added their sweet cinnamon to the mix. Each bite is like a party in your mouth. Most of her best-loved recipes were "handed down" to my neice, Wilene's daughter, Michelle, who did much, if not all, of the cooking, under Mamaw's supervision of course, for the past few years. I don't think she has the actual recipe for the cake, though. Hopefully, we will find Mamaw's Banana Cake and Icing recipe, so the tradition can continue.

Oh, yeah. "Mamaw" wasn't enough for the great-grandchildren. They called their grandmother (my mother) that, so MY Mamaw became "Meme Mamaw" to them (I think Wilene's daughters came up with that version). It can be very confusing when we're talking about "Mamaw" or Dad's talking about "Mom" - sometimes they and he mean MY Mom (Martha) and sometimes WE mean Dad's Mom (Alice). No matter. We get it figured out quickly.

Papaw, Mamaw's First Love and Husband

I don't remember my Papaw on Dad's side that well. I was six when he died in 1961. Dad said he was a joker (must be where David gets it)! He was well-known and a friend to most of Sheridan. He turned down working in Germany for Kraft Foods, because that would remove him from his growing family. He started his own electric business in Sheridan, and then became Chief of the Sheridan Volunteer Fire Department.

From the stories I heard about him, and just a couple of pictures with him when I was a baby (see the one on the right), I wish I'd known him, and wish I could remember him more. He and Mamaw raised some pretty good men.

On many of our weekend visits to Mamaw's when we were little, I remember going from church to Crown View Cemetery to visit Papaw's grave. Back then, people went to cemeteries more often than they do now. It's a shame that people seem to or want to forget their forbearers so readily, now-a-days. As kids, we didn't really understand, but as an adult and as the family genealogist, I do, or am beginning to.

Herm, Mamaw's Second Love and Husband

Mamaw's second husband was Herm. He ran the Mobil gas station at the intersection of SR38 and SR47. I was at the wedding, but don't really remember that much about it, except through the pictures. Someone (I forget who) painted a picture of that station and gave it to Mamaw. She hung it just inside the kitchen door after he died, where she'd see it every time she went or was in there. I wish I had a good picture of it.

Once you met Herm, you couldn't forget him. He was known as Poppy Herm to the grandkids (Wilene came up with that one, I believe), but he was just "Herm" to me. (He never tried to replace Papaw, as some might have, by making us call him that.) Even so, he was a great grandfather. While all of us grandkids had a few years to get to know him, he died before any of Mamaw's great-grandkids were born. It makes me sad to think they will never know him and how great he was with kids.

He played Santa for us, and somehow, made sure Mamaw and he saw ALL of the grandkids in Indiana, at least, at every major holiday. (A difficult task, because he had his own grandkids to see. Even so, somehow he managed, and I don't remember a Christmas or any other Sanders family get-together they missed. They may have to have been very early or a little late to some, but they never missed one.)

Someone mentioned that he had an "infectious laugh". I'd say it was "explosive" - At least two great, loud, "Heh-heh"s, sometimes more. He always had a twinkle in his eye, and he made Mamaw happy, again.

He and Mamaw had 18 years together, before he died in 1982. He's buried by his first wife in Crown View Cemetery, just a few rows away from where Papaw and, now, Mamaw are buried.

Epilogue

You might ask why I wrote what some would consider more about the house than about Mamaw? Because, as I said, that house WAS Mamaw. It had a certain ambience... a certain "feel" to it. While it changed over the years, it never changed, because it was "Mamaw's house". It was also the location of MANY family get-togethers, and many, many memories, many of which I can't recall at the moment but that will probably come back to me almost as a snapshot as others mention something.

As I started in genealogy in 2003, she helped me, remembering names, dates and some things about members of our family who were no longer around. She had Dad scan some old pictures and send to me for her. Dad probably would have forgotten, if she hadn't made him do it as soon as possible. Between her and Dad remembering, I found family lines and information I had never known about, and have pictures of people with names, that no one else would have known or remembered. Since she was a "picture person", she's got TONS of pictures and old documents. I hope we can tell who people are in them without her around. (Note: This article was written yesterday. As I was prepping it for the website, my uncle brought three file-boxes stuffed FULL of pictures for me to scan and put on CD/DVD for the family. As he handed the third box over, he noted that there were huge drawers and more boxes of pictures still in her apartment. I SAID she was a picture person, right?)

She loved those big family get-togethers, too. Father's day, with Donna's (Bob's wife's) family... Bud and Bob's Birthday Bash, with the Glover side of the family, and a Family Christmas with all of the Sanders' getting together. She loved them all. She kept them going as long as she could by herself, then with the help of her sons and granddaughters, and for the past few years had admonished a number of us to keep them going after she was gone. I hope, in her memory, we do.

It should be noted that, as I learned more fully at her funeral service, her REAL first love was Jesus. Papaw and Herm were her two EARTHLY loves. I said she was "religious", but not "pushy" about it. It was just part of her character. She was lead, I'm sure to both Papaw and Herm, when she needed them in her life (and, most likely, when they needed HER in theirs). She lived her life in service to the Lord, and, I'm sure, she's happy to finally meet him.

Mamaw is going to be missed. She tried to be at every school show we grandkids and great-grandkids were involved in. I'm glad the great-grandkids had the time they had to know her.

How many people in their late sixties and early 70s can say they still have a parent alive? How many people in their late-forties, early-fifties can say their grandmother was still living? How many people can say they had a great-grandmother in their late-teens and early twenties?

And how many can say they had one who was as truly great and nice as ours?

She never worried about herself; She was always worried about her boys, their kids, and their grandkids, and wanted to know all the details of any kind of trouble anyone was in. Even so, I don't believe she ever told anyone else what was told her - at least all the details. She was always a good counselor for the family.

Even when my wife and I last visited her, she worried about her eldest, my father, who was with her almost all day, every day, from the time she was in the hospital until the end. (He said it was his job.) He kept her family and friends updated on her situation, and received emails and cards to give or read her.

And, as much pain as she was in at the end, as much as she wanted to, her body would not let her die until she'd spent the afternoon with all three of her boys. How's that for devotion... Talk about being a mother "to the very core of" someone's being...

My Mamaw was a great lady. And I'm just ONE who's going to miss her ... a lot.

---

by Bill Sanders © April 25, 2007 - email:

Please... If you have any memories of Mamaw (or her house), alone or with Papaw or Herm, send them to me, and I will add them on a page linked to this one. You don't have to be as descriptive or long-winded as I was ... Write as much as you wish ... A single memory will be enough, and I'm sure it will trigger other memories in me or others.

Go to "Memories of Mamaw" page.
 

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